Tongs for gripping food items on a grill including upper and lower plates connected to arms for grasping food objects therebetween are known. An example of such food handling tongs is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,365, issued Jan, 11, 1977. A problem experienced in the prior art food handling tongs is that irregularly shaped food objects often are squeezed out from between the plates by the action of the tongs. This problem is especially noticed when using the food handling tongs to grasp chicken parts or similar rounded skinned food objects.